Where Are We Now?

Growth

"Jesus, Will, were you here all night?"

Xander scanned the room to see screwdrivers, twisted wires, and a microwave and an old computer, both busted open with parts of them scattered. Will was crouched over a basketball-sized box covered with duct tape with wires sticking out.

"Xander come here"

"Will what is all this mess?"

Xander jumped through the obstacle course of opened hard drives and wire strippers. Upon closer inspection of the box, he looked through an opening and saw four bent up metal rods meeting at a central point. "Will, what is this? What does it do?"

"I just asked Vinci if I could use plasma to rearrange atoms to become any element I want, and he said yes! I asked him if I could do it with the stuff in the workshop, and he gave me instructions on how to build it!"

"Yes, that is correct," a calm and low voice came through the speakers. The voice sounded as satisfying as a slide down a hill made of butter. "The machine should be ready now. Will, do the thing."

Will turned the box around and flicked a small plastic switch. The contraption began to buzz like a hundred bumblebees as lime green sparks shot out of the top. The box bounced around as it vibrated intensely.

"Will whats it doing!?"

The buzzing became louder and louder and the sparks became bluer and brighter and shot higher.

Then it stopped.

The remainder of the sparks fell to the ground as the box began to glow a deep blood red. It hummed like a hover car out of science fiction. Then it started to hiss as fog started to seep through the cracks.

"Will, it should be ready now."

Will was stunned by how his machine had worked so flawlessly, but he couldn't wait a second to hold up the hypnotic voice of the computer. Will reached over to the box and took out a little aluminum trey. He found a nickel-sized lump of yellow colored metal.

"Pure gold."